Why do Apprentice candidates insist on using this really clumsy way of speaking? "I'm a successful person", "I'm not a ruthless person", "I'm an ambitious person", etc.

Why not just say "I'm successful", "I'm not ruthless", "I'm ambitious" and so on?

It's a small thing, I know, but I find the way the candidates always describe themselves, when addressing other people in the series, as "a... person" or "Not a ... person" really irritating.

I never ceasd to be amazed that they are presented as 'Britain's brightest business brains', yet so many seem to have such a remarkably loose grip on the English language.

The thing that grated on my nerves was the 'd'you know what' that a lot of them kept saying (mainly on YF).

Alex was the worse - he must have said it about a hundred times.

Is it a common verbal wart now or did Alex infect the rest?

Chris must have trumped this in his final plea for the final place though which started off "if you hire me you will get a person who..." and proceeded to do the whole of the rest of his plea speaking about himself in the third person telling LAS what "the person" would do for him

Jamie also had a bad habit of starting his speeches with "Listen...."

Not as bad as the American contestant who started every speech with a very defensive "Look,"